Austrian and Turkish firms in pole position to build Gulf’s first pumped storage plant

Twelve companies are in the race to build a $523m pumped storage hydropower plant in Dubai, for the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA).

According to Reuters, the leading bidders for the 250MW Hatta Hydroelectric Power Plant are:

• Strabag and Andritz (Austria) with Ozkar (Turkey) at $379m;
• GE (US) and Sinohydro (China) at $449m;
• Acciona (Spain), Archidoron (Greece) and Voith (Germany) at $491m.

Other companies in the race are understood to be Besix (Belgium), Cimolai (Italy), Larsen & Toubro (India), China Power Construction Corporation (China), Toshiba and Mitsubishi (Japan), and Vinci (France).

DEWA is expected to award the contract in June 2019, a source close to the project told Reuters. Completion is set for 2021.

Engineering studies for the plant, the first of its kind in the Gulf, were completed in July last year. It will work by using spare power from the Hatta Dam to pump up to 880 million gallons of water to a reservoir 300m above the dam. This will then be used to provide electricity during peak demand.

Image: The Hatta reservoir in eastern Dubai (Dreamstime)

Further reading:

• Japan loans India $250m for 1GW Purulia hydro scheme
• Korean-Italian joint venture to build major new hydro plant in Indonesia
• 400MW pump-storage project proposed for Loch Ness